In ninth place with 100 meters to go, Damian Hackett ’25 needed to advance to fifth place on June 11th’s semifinal matchup to earn an automatic qualification for the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s 1500m Final on June 13.
Hackett was competing in the second heat of the day against world class athletes like Wisconsin University’s Adam Spencer who previously competed in the 2024 Summer Olympics. Hackett also lined up against some of his own Ivy League rivals like Princeton University’s Harrsion Witt and Harvard University’s Ferenc Kovacs.
“With it being the second heat and looking at the names in the field, we had an idea that it would probably be a slightly honest race rather than a sit and kick,” Hackett said. “So the strategy was really [to] just find the most efficient place to be at any given moment in the race while still being ready [to] move.”
Hackett gathered speed and momentum in that final lap to push from ninth to fifth place with an overall time of 3:42.17. He had the fastest last lap out of anyone in his heat at 52.81 seconds.
While it can be mentally difficult to run at the end of the pack and make these big pushes to first — like he did to qualify for this meet in the final lap of East Regionals Qualification Race — Hackett says he “trusts” his kick.
“If you’re 200 or 100 meters to go and running with people not in a qualifying position, but you feel good, you know that the people you’re running with don’t want to be there,” Hackett said. “At the same time, you have to adjust that strategy to your competition and the race. The higher caliber the field, the less you can leave it to last straightaway.”
He fared well during the rest of the race, keeping up with the split times of his competitors. Hackett finished in fifth just 0:00.08 seconds behind University of North Carolina’s Ethan Strand who currently holds the NCAA indoor records for both the 3000m and mile.
With his performance, Hackett will at least be recognized as a Second Team All-American. He still has an opportunity to earn a spot on the First Team if he finishes the final race in the top eight. While he recognized that the competition will be “tough” he said his goal is to finish “as high in that top eight as possible.”
The final race will also mark the end of Hackett’s collegiate career as he graduated from Cornell in May 2025.
“It’s sad, but I’ve been lucky to have a healthy and full four years competing and so this feels like a fitting end to my time at Cornell,” Hackett said. “Whatever happens it will be a good memory so there really is nothing to lose.”
Hackett says it’s “an honor” to compete at the highest level and appreciates the “visibility” the championship brings to the Cornell program.
“Cornell has a long history of All-Americans and NCAA champions, so it’s a privilege to have an opportunity to continue that legacy and contribute to the Cornell story at this level,” Hackett said.
Hackett will compete in the men’s 1500m NCAA Final Championship 8:12 EST on Friday, June 13 at Eugene, Oregon. Coverage of the race will be available on ESPN+.
Zeinab Faraj is the assistant sports editor on the 143rd editorial board and a member of the class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. You can reach her at zfaraj@cornellsun.com.
